Sarah Michelle Gellar

Biography

1990

Mid-1990s

Soap Star Beginnings

With numerous commercials and TV spots under her belt, Gellar plays Susan Lucci's evil daughter on All My Children. At 17, the newcomer wins a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actress. "I was on All My Children while trying to graduate from high school," Gellar later says of her life as a teen soap star.

1997

March 10

Buffy's First Bite

Gellar debuts in her breakout role as Buffy Summers, a suburban teen who battles the undead in the WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The supernatural show strikes a cord with audiences, making Gellar a household name. "Buffy's a total individual. She proves you don't have to fit in," she tells Teen. "You can be different and still find happiness."

October 1997

Scream Queen

Away from the tube, Gellar appears in consecutive teen horror hits Scream 2 and I Know What You DidLast Summer, with Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. The following year, she cements her "It" girl status with her first appearance on PEOPLE's 'Most Beautiful' list.

2000

Most Valuable Slayer

Gellar lands the cover of Rolling Stone, which calls Buffy one of "the coolest [shows] on television." "You can identify with so many of the characters [and] really take an interest in what's happening to each and every one of them," she tells the magazine.

2002

Falling For Freddie

Three years after meeting on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. begin dating. "We are each other's best friend," Gellar tells PEOPLE. "He is my first love." Weathering an earthquake and nearby hurricane, the two teen idols tie the knot in Mexico that year.

2004

October 22

Return to Horror

After teaming with her hubby for two Scooby-Doo flicks, Gellar returns to her scream-queen roots in the thriller The Grudge. "[Horror] is the field where women can really rule," she tells PEOPLE. "I'm not the girlfriend. I'm not the wife. This is where women can take a hold of a movie and have a proactive job." The film is a surprise hit, pulling in $71.3 million in two weeks.

2009

September 19

Saving Grace

Gellar and Prinze welcome their first child, daughter Charlotte Grace. "The minute I looked in her eyes, I thought, 'Nothing in the world is ever going to hurt'," Prinze tells PEOPLE. Gellar, who's making her TV comeback in HBO's TheWonderfulMaladays, adds, "Every day I look at her and I am in awe."

2011

Fall

Back on TV

Gellar returns to television in the CW's new series Ringer, in which she plays the dual role of identical twins. "It's the first time in a very long time in which I was surprised by something," she says of the show. Gellar also signs up to return to her soapy roots with a guest-starring appearance on All My Children, which takes its final bow in September.

2012

April

Take Two

Gellar, 35, and Freddie Prinze Jr., 36, announce they're expecting their second child. "She and Freddie are thrilled," a source close to the actress tells PEOPLE. "They love their little girl [2½-year-old Charlotte] more than anything in the world and know that love will only multiply."

September

It's a Boy!

The actress and husband Prinze Jr. welcome their second child, a baby boy named Rocky James. "Mother and baby are doing great," says their rep, adding that the couple's 3-year-old daughter Charlotte "is very excited to be a big sister."